Was it Possible for Jesus to Sin?
The teaching of Scripture and the orthodox position of Christianity is that Jesus Christ never sinned. However, the question of whether or not Jesus could have sinned is entirely different—on this issue the orthodox theologians have been split.
The term ‘peccability’ is a theological word meaning that it was possible for Jesus to sin, while the term ‘impeccability’ means that it was not possible for Jesus to sin. Those who argue against the impeccability of Christ believe that it would render his temptation meaningless. Theologian Charles Hodge wrote, “Temptation implies the possibility of sin. If from the constitution of his person it was impossible for Christ to sin, then his temptation was unreal and without effect and He cannot sympathize with his people.” This is a very important objection, especially in light of Hebrews 4:15: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” However, before a conclusion can be drawn, another factor must be taken into account.
The solution to this problem must rest on the person and nature of Christ. The historical position is that Jesus Christ had a divine nature and a human nature and each had its own will and desire. The human nature of Christ could be tempted, but his divine nature could not (James 1:13). Even though Jesus had two natures, he was still one person. If Jesus had sinned, God would have sinned, which is an impossibility. Therefore Jesus must have been impeccable.
What, then, is the significance of his temptation? Christ’s impeccability does not render his temptations meaningless; His temptations were demonstrations of his sinlessness. How could we know that Jesus was sinless unless he was tested? Jesus temptations were powerful yet he fully resisted.
We must also determine who better understands the full power of a temptation. Is it the one who yields to temptation, or the one who resists it fully? Surely the one who resists temptation knows better about the power of temptation than the one who submits.
Finally, it must be understood that Jesus chose not to rely upon his divine nature for obedience (Phil. 2:5-8). Jesus submitted himself to his Father’s will (see Matt. 26:39). He met every temptation with his human nature under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit (the very same spirit available to all Christians). Wayne Grudem writes, “The moral strength of his divine nature was there as a sort of ‘backstop’ that would have prevented him from sinning in any case (and therefore we can say that it was not possible for him to sin), but he did not rely on the strength of his divine nature to make it easier for him to face temptation…”
Because Jesus was both God and man he was impeccable, however he completely understands the power of temptation having resisted it fully and completely. Since it is impossible to fully explore this question in one article, we will revisit this issue next year.
Why Did God Become a Man?
The Incarnation of God in the person of Jesus is the true meaning of Christmas. There are numerous passages in the New Testament attributing words, actions, and titles to Jesus that could only be true of deity. In Matthew 1:23, His title “Emmanuel” means “God with us.” Colossians 1:19 says, “For in him [Jesus] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” and Colossians 2:9 says, “For in him [Jesus] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” In spite of the clear teaching of Scripture, many (including some who claim to be Christians) reject the doctrine of the Incarnation.
People reject the Incarnation for three main reasons: a rejection of the Bible as the inspired Word of God; a commitment to the philosophy of naturalism, resulting in the belief that miracles are impossible; a belief that mankind is basically good and does not need a savior. All three beliefs are in direct opposition to Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16, Heb 2:1-4, Rom. 3:23) and underscore the primary reason the Incarnation is rejected—the refusal to recognize the authority of Scripture.
Only the Scriptures can fully explain why the Incarnation was necessary. The Scriptures teach that as a man Jesus could represent mankind before God the Father. Adam, the first man, disobeyed God and plunged humanity into sin. But Jesus, the “last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45) believed God and obeyed him perfectly, bringing righteousness back to the human race (Rom. 5:18-19). Because Jesus lived a sinless human life he could die in our place and pay the penalty for our sins. Because he was God he could pay the infinite price for mankind’s sin against an infinitely holy God.
Jesus, as both God and man, is the perfect mediator, representing man to God and God to man. 1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
The Scriptures also suggest that God became a man to fulfill God’s original purpose of mankind ruling over creation (Gen 1:26), to be a sympathetic High Priest (Heb. 4:15-16), and to be an example to follow (1 John 2:6).
Jonah 2:9 says, “Salvation is from the Lord,” meaning man is incapable of doing anything to save himself from eternal death. Salvation must come from God, a process which began when Jesus came to earth. The angel appeared to Joseph and announced that, “[Mary] will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21)
Why did God bother with us? Why didn’t he just destroy us and start over? In John 3:16, Jesus gives us the answer: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
We at Trinity wish you a very merry and Christ-centered Christmas!
Labels: christmas, incarnation, person of christ
What is the Doctrine of the Incarnation?
The doctrine of the incarnation is the central truth of the Christian faith and the real meaning behind Christmas. The word incarnation comes from two Latin words, ‘in’ and ‘caro,’ which means ‘in flesh.’ The doctrine of the incarnation teaches that God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, took on human flesh. Not only is the incarnation central to the Christian faith, but as C. S. Lewis wrote, “If the thing happened, it was the central event in the history of the Earth.”
Why must Christians believe in the incarnation? The Bible, God’s revelation, teaches that Jesus was both God and Man. This doctrine is so essential to the Christian faith that if any group or sect denies either the humanity or the deity of Jesus, it is not Christian. In the first few centuries of Christianity there was a tendency among certain groups to deny the humanity of Jesus. Docetism was an early Christian heresy that taught that Jesus was God, but He only ‘appeared’ to be human; in essence, his humanity was not real. The Apostle John wrote against this heresy in 1 John 4:2-3a: “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God…”
In today’s post-enlightened world, there is a tendency to deny the deity of Jesus (Arianism), despite the many verses in scripture that teach both His deity and humanity. The Apostle Matthew understood Isaiah 7:14 (Matt. 1:23) to be a prophecy concerning the birth of Jesus: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” This verse teaches both the virginal conception (essential to the doctrine of the incarnation), and that the child would be called Immanuel, which means ‘God with us.’ In Isaiah 9:6 the child is identified: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” The prophet announces that a child is born (to humanity), but at the same time a Son is given (the Son of God from heaven). Among the names of this child born to humanity are ‘Mighty God’ and ‘Everlasting Father’ (a reference to Christ as the creator, not the first person of the Trinity). John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” followed in verse 14 by, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This is the essence of the incarnation and the reason we celebrate Christmas.
Next week we’ll give further scriptural support for Christ’s deity, and answer the question of why God became a man.
Why Do Christians Believe the Bible?
The Christian faith rests upon the truthfulness of the Bible. If it could be shown that the Bible is false in its claims, then the Christian faith would be discarded on the trash heap of history. However, the Bible has stood the test of time and continues to withstand the continual attacks of modernity, and for very good reason.
Christians believe the Bible is true, first and foremost, because the Bible claims to be the Word of God. Second Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…” Second Peter 1:20-21 says, “Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Many have pointed out that the Scripture’s claim to be the Word of God is a circular argument. No doubt this is true, but if the Bible is the Word of God, to what higher authority can one appeal? When one arrives at an ultimate authority, there is no higher authority, so all appeals to an ultimate authority must necessarily be circular. However, there are other reasons why Christians believe the Bible to be true.
The Bible has been under such scrutiny in modern times that very few stop to consider what an amazing book it really is. It was compiled over sixteen hundred years and written by over forty different authors. The historical circumstance of each writer differed greatly, yet there is a unity and common theme that runs through the whole Bible that is nothing short of miraculous.
The Bible is also a book of prophecies. No other religion in the world even attempts the amount of prophecies found in the Bible, and certainly no religion can match the amount of accurately fulfilled prophecies. The fulfillment of predictive prophecy was one of the early church’s greatest apologetics, the premise being that only God can perfectly predict the future. We hear this apologetic at work in the New Testament. In Acts 3:18 Peter said, “But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.” In 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 Paul wrote, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…”
Other evidence concerning the truthfulness of Scripture includes the evidence from archeology, the enormous amount of ancient biblical manuscripts available, and the millions of changed lives and transformed societies throughout history.
Theologian John Stott gave an excellent answer to this question in a lecture given at Wheaton College some years ago. He asked, “Why do we believe the Bible to be the infallible Word of God?” He answered very simply, “Because Jesus did and taught that we should.”
What is a Christian Worldview, part 4
When the tests of reason, consistency, coherence, comprehensiveness, simplicity, empirical fit, and livability are applied to various worldviews, we can see marked differences between them.
Naturalism is a philosophy committed to a godless universe. It explains the appearance of design and the complexity of life (including minds) as a result of blind random chance, forcing the observer to deny what seems empirically obvious. Naturalism must also deal with the problem of the good—why and how humanity developed a moral conscience and why the good is preferred. Naturalists have no foundation for morality; in fact, a naturalist can certainly live a moral life, but he must borrow the moral categories of good and evil from the Christian worldview. If the naturalist is consistent in his worldview, he would affirm that there is no such thing as good and evil—a position that cannot be consistently held. Any worldview that cannot explain the nuances of human existence such as morality, guilt, love, and reason also fails the test of comprehensiveness.
The New Age movement holds to the idea that the most important conception of humanity transcends the laws of logic. This means the New Age advocate is committed to relativism, which denies the law of non-contradiction. However, when the New Age teacher speaks or writes, she assumes the law of non-contradiction; her point of view is intended to be understood in a non-relativistic way. Shirley MacLaine said, “Everyone has his own truth, and truth, as an objective reality, doesn’t exist.” MacLaine is attempting to make a true statement about the non-existence of truth (she is attempting to invalidate the law of non-contradiction by using the law of non-contradiction). From there, the problems with the New Age movement continue to mount. In the end, the New Age movement turns out to be nothing more than the age-old quest of humanity to be its own god.
The biblical worldview fits the world that we know. It explains why the universe appears to be designed and fine-tuned. It explains why mankind is superior to the animal kingdom. It explains why man is a moral being, knowing the difference between right and wrong; capable of doing such good, but guilty of such evil. It answers the longing in our hearts for forgiveness. It explains death and the desire to live forever. The Christian worldview so empirically fits the world we live in and the needs and longings of the heart that many label this view the product of wishful thinking. However, skeptics need to consider the possibility that the Christian worldview fits so well because it’s true. This does not mean that the Christian worldview is without difficulties. The problem of evil and the sovereignty of God verses the free will of man are examples of some difficulties that have been the topic of conversation for almost two thousand years. None of these difficulties have proven fatal to Christianity; in fact, with serious study some very good answers can be found.
When compressive tests are applied to all worldviews, the Christian worldview will rise to the top.
Labels: naturalism, worldview
